The Spotsylvania County Planning Commission voted to recommend data centers to be constructed by-right in areas zoned Industrial during its meeting Wednesday night.
The commission’s vote also included the requirement of a special use permit for data centers in all other areas, including those zoned Office or Commercial.
The vote was 6-1, with Lee Hill District Commissioner Scott Phelps casting the lone vote against the motion. The matter will go before the board of supervisors next Tuesday and could return to the planning commission, according to County Attorney Karl Holsten.
Phelps said he is in favor of data centers in the county but is concerned about the large amounts of water and power that they use. He called data centers are a “win-win” for the county but believes they all should require a special use permit to enable better oversight.
“If we can’t throttle back even a little bit then we get what we deserve,” Phelps said … “It’s not to say, ‘Please don’t come here.’ It’s to say, ‘Look, we’re going to be responsible. We welcome you here, but we need to ensure that we provide the best situation for our citizens.”
Phelps was alone in support of special use permits in Industrial zones.
Commissioner Tim Gronau (Courtland District) said he supports the facilities by-right in those areas but made a motion to have them eliminated completely from all other zones. He rescinded the motion after being informed that not all data centers require a large amount of land and that smaller ones can fit in areas zoned Office or Commercial.
Commissioner Jennifer Maddox of the Berkeley District expressed that she is heavily in favor of by-right data centers in Industrial zones. Distribution centers, she said, are a much more troublesome use.
“You can really be a noisemaker in Industrial [zones] currently,” Maddox said. “You can really do some heavy-hitting stuff right there … I prefer data centers all day long compared to one of those distribution centers or manufacturing uses that are in there.”
The vote came at the end of a public hearing during which just two people spoke.
Brent Hunsinger of the Friends of the Rappahannock spoke in favor of special use permits because of his concern about the amount of water and power data centers use. Hunsinger said “comprehensive oversight” would be welcomed by him and his organization.
Charlie Payne, a lawyer who represents data center developers, spoke against special use permits, saying they’re just another hurdle that would disincentivize developers from wanting to do business in the county.
“It creates a lot of uncertainty because there are no standards, just a blanket whatever the discretion is of the particular board you’re in front of,” Payne said. “Here we are with an industry that we’re trying to attract to our county that for every $26 they invest in the county; it costs the county $1 to provide services to them.
“These projects generate about $18.5 million in gross tax revenue per million square feet. You’re not going to find an Industrial user that does that and has less traffic and arguably less noise than any other high-level Industrial use.”
Maddox said that while she was once concerned about water usage, she’s now convinced that it will be less of an issue. Planning Commission Chair Allen Prickett said that because the region shares the same power grid, the argument about electricity does not hold up.
“If we don’t accept it here and they accept it over in Caroline [County], we lost out on funding that could’ve fixed some of the public works issues that we’re having,” Prickett said.
In another public hearing, the commission voted 4-3 to recommend the rezoning of approximately 58.5 acres from Residential to Planned Developing Housing — with proffers — for the development of 99 single-family detached homes on the north side of Smith Station Road. Commissioners Maddox, Phelps and Debbie Fregoso voted against the project, which is known as Smith Station Crossing.
